As in other industries, the boating industry is stretching the design boundaries to create new and innovative boat designs. One particularly fertile area for boat design innovation is in the design of boat windshields. Traditionally, boat windshields have been flat and only slightly angled with respect to the boat in the direction from its bow to its stern to make them somewhat aerodynamic. The side wings of these windshields were also flat and the connection between the side wings and the front windshield was a straight line. The overall appearance of these traditional boat windshields and the boat itself, due in large part to the appearance of the windshield, was very square.
New designs for boat windshields are very sleek and streamlined. The newest and most innovative windshields have complex contours. The assignee of the present invention, Aldon Industries, is a leader in the design of creative, futuristically appearing windshields having complex contours. Complex contoured windshields are curved to wrap around the boat across its bow and down its port and starboard sides. It is also curved from the base of the windshield to the top of the windshield. To explain it another way, the windshield is curved in two planes. It is curved in a first plane that is parallel to the base of the windshield and it is curved in a second plane that is perpendicular to the base of the windshield.
A problem with complex contoured windshields having dual plane curvature is the difficulty in pivotally mounting complex contoured panels to the complex contoured windshield. The panels may be a window panel that pivots to open or a door panel such as a door panel mounted at the midpoint of the windshield to allow ingress and egress to the bow of the boat. To be acceptable, the panel must open and close smoothly and easily with a tactile swing and it must close flush with the adjoining panel.
A hinge has to be used to pivotally mount these panels so they can freely swing to be opened and closed. With the complex curved surfaces, a standard hinge cannot be used because it is too rigid along a fixed line of pivot. The purpose of a standard hinge pin or pintle is to keep the mating hinge knuckles aligned along the center line so that the swinging panel swings through a predetermined constant arc. This will not work with a complex contoured panel because the contour will not allow the panel to swing along a fixed centerline. The panel will either abut the ajoining fixed panel or the two adjoining panels will have to be separated an unsightly distance to allow room for the panel to swing.